ST. LOUIS, Mo. (May 28, 2013) – The St. Louis Cardinals announced that Social Media Night in the Budweiser Bowtie Bar at Busch Stadium June 4th will focus on fan engagement, including giving fans the opportunity to take over the team’s twitter account (@Cardinals) for the game.

“Like radio in the early days of baseball, social media enables fans to follow the team, but with a modern twist that allows them to also be the voice of the Cardinals,” said Ron Watermon, Director of Public Relations. “We thought it would be fun to let fans in our ‘Twitter booth’ to help us call the game.”

The Cardinals will allow fans to tweet the play-by-play and story of the game during Social Media Night by selectively re-tweeting fans that include the hashtag #STLFanTakeover in their tweets.

Fans who buy a special ticket to the Social Media Night event at Busch Stadium will receive access to a pre-game Q&A program featuring Cardinal players who are active on social media. All fans may submit their questions for the players prior to the event via the Cardinals Facebook page (facebook.com/cardinals) and Twitter (@Cardinals, #CardsSocial).

Social Media Night is a great chance for fans of all ages to interact with their favorite “tweeting Birds” face to face, as well as engage with other fans and team officials. In keeping with the fan engagement theme, the team ran a social media contest on Tumblr to have fans design and select the t-shirt that will be given out as part of Social Media Night. For $25, fans receive a Left Field Porch Ticket for the 7:15 p.m.game between the Cardinals and Arizona Diamondbacks, access to the pre-game program featuring Cardinal players, the fan designed t-shirt, the chance to win autographed prizes and more. Tickets are still available at cardinals.com/socialmedianight. Social Media Night is presented by Budweiser.

Social Media Night at Busch Stadium is one of several unique personalized theme ticket promotions planned for the 2013 season. Theme tickets are customized promotions that allow a select number of fans to celebrate a common interest while enjoying access to a unique promotional item and/or an exclusive pregame event. Fans can learn more about Cardinals theme nights at cardinals.com/theme.

ST. LOUIS (January 30, 2013) – The St. Louis Cardinals and their development partner the Cordish Companies announced that they closed today on the financing for the construction of the $100 million first phase of Ballpark Village. While preliminary site work began today, the team announced that a formal groundbreaking ceremony will be held on Friday, February 8th at 11 am on the construction site.

The $100 million first phase of Ballpark Village, which is anticipated to be completed by Opening Day 2014, will include the construction of 100,000 sq. feet of retail and entertainment space along Clark Street next to Busch Stadium. The first phase also includes all of the streets, parking and site infrastructure to support the future phases of the seven-block $700 million mixed use project.

The initial phase will be anchored by Cardinals Nation, Budweiser Brew House, and Live! at Ballpark Village. Cardinals Nation will be a first-of-its kind venue totaling over 30,000 square feet on three levels. Cardinals Nation includes a two story restaurant, a Cardinals Hall of Fame and Museum, and a 300-plus seat seating deck with views into Busch Stadium. A second building will house a 20,000 square foot two-story Anheuser-Busch venue with a festive rooftop party deck offering views into Busch Stadium. The two signature structures will be joined by Live at Ballpark Village!, an indoor market place with a retractable canopy covering the event space designed to be a vibrant gathering space throughout the year. The Cardinals and the Cordish Companies will announce additional details at the groundbreaking ceremony next week.

Ballpark Village (#bpv)The construction of Ballpark Village represents the next step in the Cardinals vision for their investment in downtown St. Louis that began with the opening of the privately financed, $411 Busch Stadium in 2006. Ballpark Village is an approximately $550 million mixed-use retail, entertainment, office, and residential district being developed in partnership by the St. Louis Cardinals and the Cordish Companies. Spanning seven city blocks on the 10-acre site just north of Busch Stadium, Ballpark Village will be the country’s first fully integrated mixed-use development designed to deliver the excitement and energy of the game day experience to a new neighborhood outside the stadium walls.

The Cordish CompaniesFor generations, the Cordish family has grown The Cordish Companies into one of the world’s leading real estate development companies and a diverse group of successful entertainment-operating businesses. Cordish Companies’ entertainment and mixed use projects include the Kansas City Power & Light District, Louisville Fourth Street Live, and The Power Plant & Pier IV in Baltimore.

KANSAS CITY, MO (August 14, 2012) – The Kansas City Royals are inviting fans to nominate veterans for the honor of sitting in the club’s Buck O’Neil Legacy Seat during the annual Armed Forces Day celebration presented by Budweiser and the National World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial. The military-themed tribute is set for Saturday, September 15 prior to the Los Angeles Angels-Royals game at 6:10 p.m.

Since 2007, the club has paid tribute to the lasting impact O’Neil had on the game of baseball and the Kansas City area by filling “Buck’s seat” with a member of the community who embodies his vibrant spirit. In conjunction with the Armed Forces Day celebration, the Royals are calling on fans to submit nominations for deserving veterans by visiting www.royals.com/buckseat. A panel from the National World War I Museum will then select one lucky veteran as the honoree for Armed Forces Day.

The honoree, along with four guests, will enjoy the game from “Buck’s seat” behind home plate of Kauffman Stadium. In addition, the veteran will be recognized during the Royals pregame ceremony and FOX Sports Kansas City telecast that evening.

The Royals invite fans throughout the Midwest to participate in the nomination process. Nominations should include a description in 100 words or less of why the nominee should be honored as well as relevant contact information. All nominations are due by Friday, August 31 at noon CDT. The winner will be selected the following week.

Nomination forms are available online at www.royals.com/buckseat. Completed nominations may be submitted online or mailed to: Kansas City Royals, Attn: Buck O’Neil Legacy Seat, One Royal Way, Kansas City, MO 64129. For more information, fans may call (816) 921-8000.

In addition to saluting a worthy veteran in the Buck O’Neil Legacy Seat, Armed Forces Day will also include a special pregame ceremony, first pitch and more to honor our service men and women. The first 20,000 fans will receive a camouflage KC cap courtesy of Sport Clips. For event details, visit www.royals.com/armedforcesday.

A CHAMP’S PERSPECTIVE PRESENTED BY BUDWEISER TO AIR LIVE ON MLB.COM AND CARDINALS.COMTony La Russa to reflect on 2011 season from Peabody Opera House on January 13 at 7:00 p.m. (CST)

NEW YORK, January 12, 2012 – Tony La Russa, in conjunction with the Animal Rescue Foundation (ARF), will host “A Champ’s Perspective” presented by Budweiser from the Peabody Opera House in downtown St. Louis on Friday, January 13 at 7:00 p.m. (CST). The live commentary with La Russa and special guest Bob Costas will air online at MLB.com and Cardinals.com and cover baseball strategies, including those implemented during the St. Louis Cardinals 2011 season from Spring Training to Opening Day to the dramatic run to the National League Wild Card and ultimately to Game 7 of the World Series, where the Cardinals won their 11th World Championship.

“A Champ’s Perspective” presented by Budweiser also will include video highlights from the 2011 season and an audience Q&A session with La Russa. Proceeds from the event will benefit ARF and 19 animal rescue organizations in the greater St. Louis area. Visit MLB.com, Cardinals.com or ARF.net for complete details.

The St. Louis Cardinals have hosted numerous Social Media Nights over the last few seasons. During these events, they invite your favorite blogs, new media sites, Twitter personalities and Social Media experts to the park to mingle with fans and talk baseball for an evening. I-70 Baseball will have representatives in attendance that night.

Today, the team announced the next event, which will occur on August 25th at the Bowtie Bar in the Left Field section of the ballpark.

Fans can begin buying tickets on August 15th by going to www.cardinals.com/bowtie

Tickets will be $20 each and will feature the following:

A Lower Left Field Box Ticket for that night’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates

$5 in Cardinals Cash, loaded directly on to your ticket

Access to a pre-game program featuring current Cardinal players.

Giveaways and prizes

The pregame program is to be held in the Budweiser Bowtie Bar on level 2 in Left Field. In addition, fans (21 and over) will be able to buy a 12 ounce “Bottoms Up” draft for $5 throughout the evening.

You can keep up with all the news and happenings surrounding the event by searching for #CardsSMN and #Bowtie on Twitter. Look for additional information on the various Social Media channels for the Cardinals throughout this weekend and leading up to the event.

Here is how you can keep track of the Cardinals various Social Media Channels:

For anyone that’s never made the journey, five hours of driving past nearly 300 miles of corn, porn and fireworks isn’t exactly what would be referred to as a traditional vacation. But when you have old friends to meet and your favorite baseball team to see, the trek from Kansas City to St. Louis down I-70 is slightly easier to swallow.

I made it to my friends’ place on the outskirts of St. Louis in the afternoon. We hung out for a bit and went to eat at a pizza place in town, where I saw Lance Berkman‘s 24th homer of the year on TV. (Every TV in town has the game on). I got back to their house just in time to see Kyle Lohse give up a back-breaking four-run homer, only three of which were answered to by the Cardinals. 7-6 Diamondbacks.

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The next afternoon, we passed the ballyard in all its shining glory. To a denizen of the city (most of them being clad in the red of the hometown 25), it’s there every day. But when you have only seen it in person twice, never in the daytime and at home only when the team is on nationally, it’s a sight to see. The crimson block letters that resemble those on the Budweiser Brewery pronounce the brick and black steel building’s designation: BUSCH STADIUM.

We were heading to Crown Candy, a little restaurant–I guess you’d call it–built into the corner of a run-down, abandoned block on the south side of the city whose presence was hidden from the eyes of the Arch by a number of skyscrapers. I guess plenty of other people shared my friends’ enthusiasm for the place since we waited nearly an hour to get through a 20-foot-long line in which everyone was compacted together like a trash cube waiting for one of the 20-something tables to open up. After hearing a brief reminiscence of an old man and his St. Louis Browns who didn’t recognize the name “Pujols” on the back of one of my friends’ jerseys, we finally sat down. The hot dog drenched in chili, cheese and onions is essential to the story as you can well imagine.

We exited the old, corroding neighborhood with its collapsed and graffitied houses, empty shops, collections of druggies and homeless men under an overpass literally feet away from the nicer stone, steel and glass buildings of the upper district. We breached into bustling downtown, where we strategically entered into a makeshift parking lot beyond the third base side without engaging any of the heavy traffic around the Stadium a bit short of two hours before first pitch. While we drove down Spruce Street, I looked up from the back seat at the bright red neon lettering symmetrically divided by the line in the middle of the road that read “St. Louis Cardinals” in the same font on the fronts of the teams’ uniforms.

We turned a corner and went straight in as we passed the notorious(ly ugly) Stan Musial statue. As I said, I had only been to the place twice, but never early enough to tour it. I took a walk to see the backdrop beyond where the mythological St. Louis Cardinals do battle 81 days out of the year and passed thousands of people dressed similarly to myself in their various Redbirds paraphernalia, the hundred or so vending stations and food stands and thousands of Little Leaguers and their parents coming off the field and filing up the zig-zagging ramp that enthralled me in my very first visit a few years ago.

My friend and I made our way back to our seats in the left-center bleachers, where we waited in 90-something-degree weather for the game to start.

Everything started according to plan when Albert Pujols gave us an early lead in the first. Then, it all fell apart in an instant. I was seeing my favorite pitcher, Chris Carpenter, start in person for only the second time. I picked a bad day. Only moments after the should-be All-Star singled in that first run, Carpenter loaded the bases and with two outs and gave up a hit to the freaking pitcher; which wouldn’t have been so bad had Colby Rasmus not charged the ball. But he did. And it got by him. 3-1, Arizona.

Chris Young blasted a double past Albert to increase the deficit one more run. Kelley Johnson doubled in the sixth to crush everyone’s spirits and make it 5-1. Figures this is the game I get to see in my tentatively annual visit to Busch. The bases-loaded double play in a two-run inning didn’t do much to lighten my spirits, either. Ryan Roberts drove in yet another D-Backs run on Jason Motte in the top of the seventh. 6-3.

I should have been having more fun since I was with my friends in one of my favorite places on this earth; but I wasn’t. How could I? A comeback seemed impossible at this point.

But, my guys gave me a hint of something to root for. Ryan Theriot hit a fly ball deep to center–right in front of me but still well over the grass. Young looked up and had his glove ready, but dropped the ball right after catching it. Theriot was out, but Jon Jay scored from third. There’s always a little hope, I thought.

I looked over at the scoreboard to see that the Pirates, who the Cards were unbelievably tied with before 6:15, had given the Cubs the go-ahead run. Next thing I know, I’m looking at the other end of the barrel on a Pujols game-tying bomb 50 feet away from me.

I saw the blue ball loop into the away bullpen. I don’t know why it was blue or why I didn’t hear the rest of the crowd when he hit it. But when it was airborne, I waited until it touched down. Then, I lost it. (My voice is still cracking a bit.) Me and everyone around me went hysterical as the baddest hitter on the planet just gave our team a back-from-the-dead, tie-game hit. 6-6, Cardinals. (Yes, we were in the lead.)

I didn’t have another coherent thought all night. It’s something special to see your favorite player do something like that. Who’s washed up now? But it wasn’t over yet. With these relievers, it’s never over.

But, Tony LaRussa pulled out all the stops. The team’s best relievers: Mitchell Boggs, Lance Lynn and Fernando Salas were all used to preserve the tie. But that meant that if the game went into extra innings, Tony would be flushed of his best relief men. The game had to end in the bottom of the ninth.

Lance Berkman led off with a hit, and Yadier wasn’t far behind with a walk. In comes the only bat left on the bench after Jay, Skip Schumaker and Nick Punto were used: Tony Cruz and his three RBI. (Notably absent was his Ke$ha walk-up song.) Well, it isn’t the end of the world if he gets out. My brother, a casual baseball fan, asked me “Who’s Tony Cruz?” He found out.

This time, I yelled before the ball hit the ground. Utility man Tony Cruz had just hit a walkoff double to right! The crowd, naturally, was even louder this time after their guys came out of a three-run ditch. Me and my friends couldn’t stop talking about what we had just seen. I high-fived the Cool Papa Bell statue outside before celebratory Imo’s was ordered. Man, I love baseball.

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We said our early-morning goodbyes, said hi to my uncle after a conversation disparaging my boy Razz and left on the long trip for home. On the way, caught the day game and Iceman’s game-winning bomb on a TV at TGI Fridays in Columbia and three different radio stations. And now I’m back.